A New Jersey man will evade jail time after he was charged with threatening a college student who has been missing for months.
Family members believe Adam Zalouk is connected to Morty Wortman’s disappearance.
Wortman, a Rutgers University student, went missing on Nov. 21, 2025. The day he vanished, he was last seen with Zalouk in the parking lot of a school in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
Zalouk reported him missing the next day and told officers he saw him walk into a nearby wildlife area and never return.
“Adam told police that he and my little brother went into the woods,” Wortman’s brother, Ivan Marks, told NewsNation. “They had some type of argument or disagreement in the woods, and Mekhai stormed off upset, saying that he’ll just walk home himself.”
Authorities searched 12,000 acres of the wooded area for any sign of Wortman, but never located him. He remains missing.
Months before his disappearance, Zalouk was charged with making terroristic threats at Wortman. The pair were reportedly in a romantic relationship at the time.
The charges stem from an incident last summer. Wortman told police that one day, he rejected Zalouk’s sexual advances, and Zalouk became angry, threatened him with a knife, then used that same knife to carve the word ‘slut’ into the side of Wortman’s car. He also rammed the back of Wortman’s car before fleeing the scene.
Zalouk pleaded guilty on March 2 to making terroristic threats in exchange for no jail time, according to News12.
The Ocean County Prosecutor offered the plea deal because Wortman wasn’t available to testify in the case. The judge overseeing the case agreed with the assessment, stating that Wortman is needed in court to proceed with the prosecution.
As part of the deal, he’ll have to undergo pre-trial intervention, mental health evaluations and drug testing.
Other charges Zalouk faced, including weapons possession and criminal mischief, were dropped.
Wortman’s family members who were at the plea hearing decried the bargain.
Although authorities never linked Zalouk to Wortman’s disappearance, Wortman’s family and friends are convinced he had something to do with it.
“I truly believe Adam knows where my son is at. He’s been stalking him, calling the house, threatening to kill him,” Wortman’s father told the court.
“I know [Zalouk] did something. [Wortman] would never just disappear. He would never leave his family. He’s a mama’s boy. [Zalouk] had something to do with it,” Wortman’s friend, Trinity Cottrell, added. “He was telling me in the summer that he was being stalked by [Zalouk] and there were numerous conversations that [Wortman] expressed his fear for that.”
Wortman’s family started a GoFundMe to raise money for a private investigator and more resources to track him down.
There’s also a $10,000 reward for information leading to Wortman’s whereabouts.
